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make ready; having the power of preparing, qualifying, or fitting; preparatory. Laborious quest of knowledge preparative to this work. South.

Made fit or suitable; adapted; ready; as, prepared food; prepared questions. -- Pre*par"ed*ly, adv. Shak. -- Pre*par"ed*ness, n.

sion; -- used generally of an official and hereditary right which may be asserted without question, and for the exercise of which there is no responsibility or accountability as to the fact and the manner of its exercise. The two faculties that are the prerogative of man -- the powers of abstraction and imagination. I.…

dull sound . . . previous to the storm, Rolls o'er the muttering earth. Thomson. Previous question. (Parliamentary Practice) See under Question, and compare Closure. -- Previous to, before; -- often used adverbially for previously. "Previous to publication." M. Arnold. "A policy . . . his friends had advised previous…

Sequestered from company or observation; appropriated to an individual; secret; secluded; lonely; solitary; as, a private room or apartment; private prayer. Reason . . . then retires Into her private cell when nature rests. Milton.

See Call, Put, Spread, etc. Breach of privilege. See under Breach. -- Question of privilege (Parliamentary practice), a question which concerns the security of a member of a legislative body in his special privileges as such. -- Water privilege, the advantage of having machinery driven by a stream, or a place affordi…

d con, for and against, on the affirmative and on the negative side; as, they debated the question pro and con; -- formerly used also as a verb. -- Pros and cons, the arguments or reasons on either side.

A question proposed for solution; a matter stated for examination or proof; hence, a matter difficult of solution or settlement; a doubtful case; a question involving doubt. Bacon.

Having the nature of a problem; not shown in fact; questionable; uncertain; unsettled; doubtful. -- Prob`lem*at"ic*al*ly, adv. Diligent inquiries into remote and problematical guilt leave a gate wide open to . . . informers. Swift.

eration, discussion, acceptance, or adoption; as, to propose terms of peace; to propose a question for discussion; to propose an alliance; to propose a person for office.

To offer for consideration; to exhibit; to propose; as, to propound a question; to propound an argument. Shak. And darest thou to the Son of God propound To worship thee, accursed Milton. It is strange folly to set ourselves no mark, to propound no end, in the hearing of the gospel. Coleridge.

Figuratively, to draw out or obtain, as secrets or money, by persistent questioning or plying; to question or ply persistently in order to elicit something, as information, money, etc. But pump not me for politics. Otway.

o suppose; -- formerly sometimes followed by that introducing a proposition; as, to put a question; to put a case. Let us now put that ye have leave. Chaucer. Put the perception and you put the mind. Berkeley. These verses, originally Greek, were put in Latin. Milton. All this is ingeniously and ably put. Hare.…

Inquire; question; see; -- used to signify doubt or to suggest investigation.

Same as Questor.

ease, multiplication and division; greatness; and more concretely, that which answers the question "How much"; measure in regard to bulk or amount; determinate or comparative dimensions; measure; amount; bulk; extent; size. Hence, in specific uses:

Fastidious; squeamish; delicate; easily disturbed; unsettled; ticklish. " A queasy question." Shak. Some seek, when queasy conscience has its qualms. Cowper.

Mysterious; suspicious; questionable; as, a queer transaction. [Colloq.]

One who inquires, or asks questions. Swift.

A question; an inquiry to be answered or solved. I shall conclude with proposing only some queries, in order to a . . . search to be made by others. Sir I. Newton.